


where it all begins

by FoxGlade



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Future Fic, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-13 15:19:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14751374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoxGlade/pseuds/FoxGlade
Summary: “Speaking of Ben,” Sammy starts to say, but is interrupted as loud thumps echo up the stairs, followed a second later by the man himself skidding into the kitchen, grass smudged over his face.“Dog needs a bath,” Ben announces. He pokes Jack in the ribs and ducks under his arm when Jack shoves back, stumbling into Sammy’s space and stealing one of his toast pieces before coming to a stop next to Emily. “Morning.”“It's almost four in the afternoon,” Emily laughs. Ben shrugs and stuffs the entire toast in his mouth.“Same thing,” he says, barely audible. Sammy shares a horrified look with Jack.“Would it kill you to slow down?” he says. Ben grins at him. A pinch of bread falls from his mouth and Sammy takes an exaggerated step back. “Gross.”(Years in the future, Sammy has a good day.)





	where it all begins

The house is usually quiet when Sammy wakes up. Ben sleeps like the dead, long past Sammy’s self-imposed alarm at 4pm if everyone lets him, and Emily closes the library at 5pm on weekdays. Jack stays around the house most of the time, but he keeps the volume down. Online journalism doesn't lend itself to loud noises anyway, besides the times he stumbles into the comments section, and the sound recording he does in the office, downstairs and on the other side of the house.

So usually Sammy wakes up to his phone beeping, or the afternoon sun in his eyes if he forgot to close the curtains, but today it's laughter outside his window and the dog barking. Which isn't a bad way to wake up, but it still throws him into bleary confusion. He waits a few seconds, but the laughter continues, so he drags himself from the bed and stumbles to the window, prying it open.

“Jack,” he complains, and his husband looks up with a wide smile.

“I got Chloe a new chew toy,” he says, gesturing to the ground in front of him, where Ben is wrestling in the grass with the dog.

“If she chews him up, you have to host with me tonight,” Sammy says, but he laughs a little as well. Chloe is a huge mutt, a combination of what seems like three or four large dog breeds, and even if Ben is taller than her, he looks positively tiny compared to her sturdy body and thick ruff of fur.

“Oh, tragic,” Jack deadpans.

“Traitor!” Ben yells. He kicks his leg out like he’s trying to sweep Jack off his feet. Jack looks down with a bemused expression and takes a single deliberate step out of range.

“Did you literally drag him out of bed for this?” Sammy asks Jack. “It's not even midnight yet.”

“Hey, I'm not that bad,” Ben argues, and then immediately undercuts himself with, “But Emily got home early and woke me up. It's Friday, dude - the sports thing is tomorrow, remember?”

“It's baseball. How hard is that to remember?” Jack says, exasperated.

Still struggling to wake up, Sammy finally recalls Jack and Emily’s plans. Emily had been itching to go see a baseball game again, and this time with someone who actually enjoys the sport. Although Sammy would still say that he and Ben did a pretty good job last time at seeming interested in something neither of them understand in the slightest.

“Go get some coffee,” Ben suggests. Clearly his sleepiness is evident even from a distance. “I think there's some left.”

“What, after you drank the entire pot?” Jack says. Ben flails at him again, and Chloe takes the movement as a call to start wrestling once more.

“You're so good to me,” Sammy says. He already knows he's going to be swigging down the dregs while he makes a new pot anyway. Ben waves from underneath the dog.

“Love you, babe!” he says, only slightly muffled.

“Don't call me babe, _Benny_.”

“Not cool, dude! Jack calls you that all the time!”

“And Emily calls you Benny every day. When I get Benny privileges, you can call me babe,” Sammy says, and slams the window shut as the final word.

“You guys are adorable,” he hears Jack say as he turns towards the kitchen. Ben makes some loud response, but he's out of the bedroom now, picking his way along the short hallway, avoiding dog toys and shoes and random piles of books and papers and technical equipment and cushions that were left there after a particularly violent house-wide pillow war. He's pretty sure the blanket fort Emily and Ben had constructed as their base of operations is still fully functional in their bedroom.

The hallway opens into the living room area, and just to the left of the wide windows taking up half the far wall, Emily stands at the kitchen counter, humming and buttering a piece of toast. The open area is dimly lit by a setting sun not visible on this side of the house, and with Emily’s quiet singing, it feels just a little magical.

But she hears his footsteps on the creaky floorboards and breaks off her song, looking up with a smile as he settles at the counter next to her.

“Couldn't stay away, huh?” he says. She laughs sweetly.

“You know I can't,” she teases. She offers him the loaf of bread and he shoves two slices in the toaster. They move around each other with ease that speaks of long practice. “I said I'd start closing up early on Fridays anyway.”

“Honestly, I didn't think your work ethic would let you,” he admits. He gently touches the side of her stomach and continues, “I mean, you're gonna be working right up until the due date, right?”

She hums. “A week or two before it, if everything goes to plan.”

“And it will,” Sammy says. Emily bats his hand away and playfully waves the butter knife at him.

“Don't worry about this, Sammy, it's months away. I'm barely even showing right now! And the doctors say I'm in perfect health, and the baby too.”

“I know, I know,” Sammy says, holding his hands up in surrender. “I don't wanna stress you out, worrying too much, it's just - it's what I do.”

“I know,” Emily parrots back. She brushes a hand along the lines at the corners of his eye and he leans into it, just slightly. “I wish you wouldn't, but you're worrying for four. Five now.”

“FIve who?” Jack asks as he stumbles his way into the kitchen. He's rubbing his shoulder like he's hit the door frame again, like he does every day, despite their having lived in this house for almost three years.

“Five of us,” Emily says, “or, well, five soon.”

“Did you get a girlfriend?” Jack asks blankly. Sammy rolls his eyes.

“The baby, dumbass,” he says.

“Oh! Right, I keep forgetting.”

“Well, you’re the only one,” Emily laughs. She pokes Sammy and he swats her back, then steps out of range before it can dissolve into a slap fight. “Sammy’s already worrying about what college the little guy is going to.”

“I’m not thinking that far ahead,” Sammy argues. He keeps walking back until he hits Jack’s chest, and lets his husband wrap arms around his waist. “Ben might be, though. You’ve seen his notebook.”

“Scrapbook,” Emily and Jack correct in weary unison. The toaster pops as if in agreement. Reluctantly, Sammy drags himself out of Jack’s arms to reach for the toast, taking Emily's plate to rest them on while he goes to dig one of the honey jars from Emily’s beehives out of the cupboard.

“Speaking of Ben,” he starts to say, but is interrupted as loud thumps echo up the stairs, followed a second later by the man himself skidding into the kitchen, grass smudged over his face.

“Dog needs a bath,” Ben announces. He pokes Jack in the ribs and ducks under his arm when Jack shoves back, stumbling into Sammy’s space and stealing one of his toast pieces before coming to a stop next to Emily. “Morning.”

“It's almost four in the afternoon,” Emily laughs. Ben shrugs and stuffs the entire toast in his mouth.

“Same thing,” he says, barely audible. Sammy shares a horrified look with Jack.

“Would it kill you to slow down?” he says. Ben grins at him. A pinch of bread falls from his mouth and Sammy takes an exaggerated step back. “Gross.”

“I’m a busy guy,” Ben says through his mouthful of mashed bread. He swallows with visible effort and adds, “Gotta speed run it.”

“What does that even _mean_ ,” Sammy says, at the same time Emily chides, “No rushing, it’s movie night! We’re gonna have a nice dinner and watch at _least_ three movies.”

“ _Field of Dreams?”_ Jack suggests.

“Obviously,” Emily says, and holds up one finger.

“ _Die Hard,”_ Sammy says firmly. Emily holds up another finger. They all look to Ben.

 _"27 Dresses,”_ he decides finally. Emily holds up a third finger and wiggles them until Jack snorts.

“And then _Rocky Horror Picture Show_ if we have time,” she says. “But probably not. We’re gonna head off early tomorrow, right after breakfast at Rosa’s, so I want an early night.”

“We’ll watch _Nightmare on Elm Street_ to drive you out,” Jack says with a smirk. Emily smacks him on the arm.

“I’ll hear it from my bedroom!” she complains. Jack flicks her back, and they devolve into a short slap fight until Ben’s laughter distracts them both. Emily flicks his shoulder too and says, “Don’t laugh, Benny, you only watch horror movies as an excuse to cuddle!”

“Hey!” Ben laughs, ducking his head, embarrassed as if this fact isn’t overwhelmingly obvious to anyone who’d watched a single scary movie with him.

Jack grins and leans over to drape himself onto Ben, chin resting in his hair and arms crossed over his chest. “Aw,” he coos, “you don’t need an excuse, baby.”

“Whatever,” Ben grumbles, but he grabs onto Jack’s wrist with a pleased expression.

“We’re not gonna watch a horror movie,” Sammy says. “Remember the _Human Centipede_ rule?”

“That’s only a ban on _bad_ horror movies!” Ben protests.

“ _Nightmare on Elm Street_ is a classic!” Jack adds. They both adopt identical innocent looks, and Sammy experiences that long-familiar sensation of fond exasperation over how he ended up with two of these wonderful, infuriating souls.

At least he has a marginally more sensible ally in Emily. “You may have to stay up with us to help me keep an eye on them,” he tells her. She smiles, eyes crinkling, and Sammy knows she’s feeling the same way.

“What a shame,” she says, lips twitching.

“That's code for ‘Emily's totally gonna stay up and watch horror movies with us,” Ben stage whispers to Jack. Emily makes a noise of protest.

“I think _that's_ code for ‘Ben wants to sleep in the guest bedroom for the weekend’,” she threatens, clearly only half-joking. Ben immediately crumbles and squirms his way out of Jack’s hold to throw his arms around Emily instead.

“We'll watch _Rocky Horror_ ,” he says into her shoulder. Sammy and Jack catch each other's eyes and share a look that says, in the kindest and most respectful way possible, _whipped._

“He's probably gonna be in the guest bedroom all weekend anyway,” Sammy offers, if only to break up the sudden lovey-dovey moment. “He bought the Switch back from the station, wanted to have a game night.”

“Yeah! It's gonna be all gaming, drinking, and cuddling ‘til we pass out,” Ben says enthusiastically. Sammy squints at him.

“Pretty sure I only agreed to one of those,” he says.

“The cuddling,” Jack says with a knowledgeable look. Emily nods back seriously, hiding a smile at Sammy’s eye roll.

“Glad you all agree for me,” he says dryly.

“This is basically what you signed up for,” Jack informs him. “It's all cuddling ‘til we pass out from here, babe.”

“I signed up for that with you,” Sammy says pointedly. “I think it was somewhere between ‘in sickness’ and ‘richer or poorer’. I don't remember making those vows for all three of you.”

“I think it was implied when you agreed to the double wedding,” Ben says, smug grin firmly in place.

“Did I agree to that, or did you guys all decide it and then tell me it was happening?” Sammy questions. Emily hums.

“No, you agreed,” she says. Truly, Sammy’s outnumbered here, and always will be. He probably shouldn't find that thought as comforting as he does. “I think you even teared up, a bit.”

“That seems unlikely,” Sammy says, ignoring Jack’s cooing. He glares at his husband and adds, “Don't trust these unsubstantiated rumours.”

“But the sources are so reputable!” Jack replies. He gives Emily a winning smile and she laughs.

“Aw, thank you,” she beams. Her eyes slip over to the windows and she sighs. “I have to check the hives before it gets dark,” she says. “Ben, you want to help?”

“Always,” he says, and scoops Sammy’s second piece of toast, cold and long forgotten, off the bench and into his mouth. Sammy pulls a face, but Ben remains undeterred.

“Start setting up the movies, we'll be quick,” Emily says, and kisses Jack on the cheek, then Sammy, and leaves the room.

“Make some popcorn too,” Ben says through his mouthful of toast, before he too kisses Sammy on the cheek, anticipating Sammy’s dodge and catching him as he ducks away.

“Still gross,” Sammy chides, but his heart isn't in it. Ben grins a messy and disgusting smile and heads out as well, giving Jack a peck on the cheek as he passes.

For a minute, Sammy and Jack stand together in the sudden quiet of the kitchen. It's always surprising when the house is quiet, with how much noise four people (and a dog) can generate, especially if one of those people is Ben Arnold. But it's always the sort of silence that Sammy appreciates. Not cold or isolating, like the silence of his apartment when he'd first arrived in King Falls, reminding him of everything he was missing. It's not unrelenting and unforgiving - just a short break in the ongoing noise and clutter that is his life now.

Jack seems to be taking the moment to appreciate things as they are, too. “You good?” he asks quietly.

Sammy takes a deep breath in and breathes out slowly. “I'm good,” he says, and means it. He doesn't tend towards self-reflection, but sometimes it hits him all at once, just for a second, how _happy_ he is now. Living in this house, building a life with the three people he loves most in the world… it's a long way from where he was a few years ago. “I'm really good.”

Some of his deep thinking must show on his face, because Jack gives him a warm look and steps closer to tuck a strand of hair behind his ear. “I'm glad,” he says, soft and sincere, and leans in to kiss him.

It's been more than ten years since the first time they kissed, but Sammy still melts into it as if it's brand new.

Jack breaks the kiss with a quiet sound, but doesn't move away. “We should set up the movies,” he says against Sammy's lips. Sammy snakes a hand around to the small of his back to keep him close.

“Or we can stay here and make out until they come back,” he counters. Jack pauses, and then gives a short laugh.

“Or we can do that,” he says, and sounds so pleased that Sammy has to kiss the sound out of his mouth.

In another few minutes Ben and Emily will come back, tease them about still being in their honeymoon phase and ignore any retaliation about their own sappiness. Ben will go set up the movies, citing Sammy’s inability to get within five feet of any technology more modern than the King Falls AM microphones, and Sammy will put the popcorn on, citing Ben's inability to use any cooking implement without burning the food, his fingers, or a hand towel, and Emily and Jack will watch in bemusement over how they can have the exact same argument for the hundredth time.

And after that, they'll all settle on the giant couch, with Emily and Sammy propped against each other in the middle, Ben curled around Emily on one side, and Jack leaning against the other couch arm with his legs sprawled across all of their laps. At least one of them will be asleep before the second movie ends - Sammy would put money on it being Jack, but Ben’s also pretty likely.

But that's all happening later. Right now, Sammy is appreciating the moment.

So he kisses his husband, and when Emily runs back in the kitchen minutes later, shrieking and dodging Ben as he waves beekeeping gloves covered in honey, he just laughs and leans against his husband to watch the scene, and the rest of his life, play out. After all, there's nowhere he'd rather be.

**Author's Note:**

> so canon is a little bleak right now. but im pretty sure sammy's gonna get a happy ending.
> 
> this fic is 80% thanks to nellie!! for a) enthusing abt ot4 bullshit w me the day ep 74 dropped, and b) going over this fic in the google doc literally daily with comments and joyous shrieking.
> 
> v proud to be the first to post under this pairing, and i hope ppl can get behind it! i have my own interpretation of their relationship(s), but all readings are valid. title is from Lakehouse by of monsters and men, the ultimate domestic au song. if u wanna chat, im on tumblr under @wanime. peace out kfam!


End file.
